BREAKING: Seven Now Sickened By E.coli At Northeast Portland, Soy Nut Butter Blamed

A seventh person at a school in Northeast Portland have been sickened by E.coli, the Multnomah County Health Department announced Wednesday afternoon. Six of the cases are children and one is an adult.

The seven cases at Montessori of Alameda have been under investigation since last week, according to the county. All of them occurred in one classroom, officials say.

State health officials last week also announced that two siblings in Clackamas County had been diagnosed with the strain linked the outbreak.

At least two of those cases appear to involve the same strain that has been linked to the I.M. SoyNut Butter product, which was recalled earlier this month.

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"We are working closely with families, staff, and school administrators to stop the spread of this infection and understand how this outbreak happened," said Dr. Jennifer Vines, Multnomah County Deputy Health Officer.

Vines says that if people have the recalled product still in their home, they should immediately throw it out or return it to the store where it was purchased.

There have been at least 16 cases identified as part of the outbreak so far. Fourteen of the cases have involved people under 18-years-old. The Clackamas siblings are under 18.

Five of the cases resulted in a form of kidney failure.

In addition to the nine Oregon cases, there have been four in Arizona; four in California; and one each in Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

In a message posted on its website, I.M. Healthy said it voluntarily recalled the product.

"While we are taking the necessary investigative steps in getting the product in question and the supply chain tested, we decided to issue the recall for the sake of food safety," the company said in a statement. "We take our products integrity seriously and will update all our customers as we receive more information."

The company urged anyone with questions or concerns to call its offices at 800-288-1012.

The Health Department has been advising parents that any child sick with vomiting or diarrhea, should not attend school. Parents are advised to contact their healthcare provider with any questions regarding your child’s health

The Multnomah County Health Department Communicable Disease Services team can be reached at (503) 988-3406. You can find additional information about E. coli O157:H7 at https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/general/index.html.

Photo via Mike Mozart/Flickr under a Creative Commons 2.0 license